Abenezer
Father or source of help, derived from the Hebrew name Ebenezer.
Name Census estimates that about 234 living Americans carry the first name Abenezer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abenezer today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abenezer births was 2015 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abenezer. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
234
~ 1 in 1,464,762 Americans
Peak year
2015
20 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,911
Tracked since 2003
Popularity
Abenezer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abenezer from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 144 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Abenezer remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abenezer by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Abenezer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abenezers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Abenezer
The name Abenezer has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to biblical times. It is derived from the Hebrew phrase "Eben ha-ezer," which translates to "stone of help" or "stone of the helper." The name holds significant historical and religious connotations within the Judeo-Christian tradition.
In the Old Testament, the name Abenezer is mentioned in the Book of 1 Samuel, where the prophet Samuel erected a stone and named it Ebenezer, meaning "stone of help," to commemorate God's assistance in a victory over the Philistines. This event is recorded in 1 Samuel 7:12, and the name has since become associated with gratitude and remembrance of divine intervention.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Abenezer was Ebenezer Erskine, a Scottish minister and theologian born in 1680. He played a significant role in the Secession Church movement in Scotland and was a prominent figure in the early evangelical revival.
Another notable figure was Ebenezer Howard, an English urban planner born in 1850, who is regarded as the founder of the garden city movement. His influential work, "Garden Cities of To-morrow," published in 1898, outlined his vision for self-contained, planned communities surrounded by greenbelts.
In the realm of literature, Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserly protagonist of Charles Dickens' classic novella "A Christmas Carol," published in 1843, is one of the most famous bearers of the name. His transformation from a selfish and greedy individual to a kind and compassionate person has become a timeless tale of redemption and the Christmas spirit.
Moving to the realm of politics, Ebenezer Hoar, born in 1766, was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. He was a prominent figure in the Federalist Party and played a role in the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Lastly, Ebenezer Elliott, an English poet and activist born in 1781, is known for his works advocating for the rights of the working class and his criticism of the industrial revolution's impact on the lives of the poor. His most famous work, "The Corn Law Rhymes," published in 1831, brought attention to the plight of the working class and the effects of the Corn Laws on food prices.
People
Abenezer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abenezer as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abenezer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abenezer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abenezer going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,464,762 US residents.
Is Abenezer a common name?
We classify Abenezer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 236 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abenezer most popular?
The single biggest year for Abenezer was 2015, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abenezer is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Abenezer a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abenezer in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.